Following up on the big announcement to continue as an in-person festival, Berlin International Film Festival 2022 revealed films in the Berlinale Shorts, Forum, Forum Expanded, Perspektive and Deutsches Kino programs.
Competing for the Golden and Silver Bears in Berlinale Shorts are 21 films from 19 countries, including new works by Deepak Rauniyar, Sky Hopinka and Berlinale Bear winners Atsushi Wada and Radu Jude. The International Short Film Jury comprises Rosa Barba, Reinhard W. Wolf and Payal Kapadia.
This year, a Forum Special consisting of nine film programs complements the main program of the independent section of the Berlinale. A significant part of these programs are dedicated to the eleven short films and feature-length works which continue the “Fiktionsbescheingung” series, which was originally launched online during the Berlinale Summer Special and was later shown on the big screen at SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA.
Moving closer to the ground, getting to the bottom of things, looking and hearing with precision, perceiving what’s happening close by, oft-unnoticed: these are the ideas that inform the 17th edition of Forum Expanded and the selection of films, installations and performances that will be presented as part of the Berlinale.
Seven feature films and documentaries have been invited to Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2022. For the first time in 2022, the program will therefore feature in addition to six female directors and a male director, Perspektive talents from the fields of documentary filmmaking, camera, editing, production and production design.
Berlinale Shorts Films
Agrilogistics
United Kingdom / Spain, 21’
by Gerard Ortín Castellví
World premiere / documentary form
Amintiri de pe Frontul de Est (Memories from the Eastern Front)
Romania, 30’
by Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă
World premiere / documentary form
Ampangabagat Nin Talakba Ha Likol (It’s Raining Frogs Outside)
Philippines, 14’
by Maria Estela Paiso
with Alyana Cabral
International premiere
Bird in the Peninsula
France / Japan, 16’
by Atsushi Wada
World premiere
By Flávio
Portugal / France, 27’
by Pedro Cabeleira
with Ana Vilaça, Rodrigo Manaia, Tiago Costa
World premiere
Chhngai Dach Alai (Further and Further Away)
Cambodia, 24’
by Polen Ly
with Bopha Oul, Phanny Loem
World premiere
Dirndlschuld
Austria, 15’
by Wilbirg Brainin-Donnenberg
International premiere / documentary form
Four Nights
USA / Mexico / Nepal, 16’
by Deepak Rauniyar
with Asha Magrati, Dayahang Rai
International premiere
Haulout
United Kingdom / Russian Federation, 25’
by Evgenia Arbugaeva, Maxim Arbugaev
World premiere / documentary form
Heroínas (Heroines)
Peru, 21’
by Marina Herrera
World premiere / documentary form
Histoire pour 2 Trompettes (A Story for 2 Trumpets)
France, 5’
by Amandine Meyer
World premiere
Jon-Jae-Ui Jib (House of Existence)
South Korea, 8’
by Joung Yumi
World premiere
Kicking the Clouds
USA, 16’
by Sky Hopinka
with Brandy Goodbuffalo, Sylvia Gard, Modesta Van Oss
International premiere / documentary form
Manhã de Domingo (Sunday Morning)
Brazil, 25’
by Bruno Ribeiro
with Raquel Paixão, Leonardo Castro, Silvana Stein, André Pacheco, Indira Nascimento, Valéria Lima
International premiere
Mars Exalté (Exalted Mars)
France, 18’
by Jean-Sébastien Chauvin
with Alain Garcia Vergara
World premiere
Retreat
Germany, 30’
by Anabela Angelovska
World premiere / documentary form
El sembrador de estrellas (The Sower of Stars)
Spain, 25’
by Lois Patiño
World premiere
Soum
France, 31’
by Alice Brygo
with Inti Franc-Régis, Pauline Cormault, Jai Rebière
World premiere / documentary form
Starfuckers
USA, 14’
by Antonio Marziale
with Antonio Marziale, Cole Doman, Jonathan Slavin
International premiere
Trap
Russian Federation / Lithuania, 20’
by Anastasia Veber
with Ignat Dvoinikov, Elizaveta Broshkova, Anastasia Arzhevikina, Eugene Zherdy
International premiere
Will My Parents Come to See Me
Germany / Austria / Somalia, 28’
by Mo Harawe
with Xaliimo Cali Xasan, Shucayb Abdirahman Cabdi, Maxamed Axmed Maxamed, Mohamed Hirsi, Geenyada Madaw, Faysal Colaad Muxumed
World premiere
Forum Special
“Fiktionsbescheinigung”
77sqm_9:26min
United Kingdom 2017
by Forensic Architecture
On April 6, 2006, Halit Yozgat was murdered by the National Socialist Underground at an Internet café in Kassel. State intelligence officer Andreas Temme was in the café around the same time. An architectural dissection of his police statement.
Dilim dönmüyor – Meine Zunge dreht sich nicht (Dilim dönmüyor – My Tongue Does Not Turn)
Germany 2013
by Serpil Turhan
Serpil Turhan’s grandparents gave up Kurdish for Turkish and the village for the city, just as her mother gave up Turkish for German and Istanbul for Berlin in turn. The director gently compiles fragments from the life of a family marked by migration.
Dreckfresser (Dirt for Dinner)
Germany 2000 (Forum 2001)
by Branwen Okpako
Born in Saxony, Afro-German Sam Meffire has had a chequered life. At the start of the 1990s, his face was used as the symbol of an open-minded state, before he became a police officer, friend of the minister of the interior and eventually a criminal.
Fremd. Yaban.
Germany 2007
by Hakan Savaş Mican
with İsmail Şahin, Sema Poyraz
Meryem is visiting Berlin from Turkey, although she’s come at the wrong moment for Adem, whose architecture course is his only focus. A sensitive study of the dynamics between the Gastarbeiter generation and the following one, between mother and son.
In der Wüste
West Germany 1987
by Rafael Fuster Pardo
mit Claudio Caceres Molina, Mustafa Sagili, Adriana Altares
Fernando is Chilean, Timur is from Turkey, both are penniless artists living together in Kreuzberg. They wander through the city in search of money and distraction. This portrait of friendship in the urban desert is full of mischievous charm.
Die leere Mitte (The Empty Center)
Germany 1998
by Hito Steyerl
Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz: in the 1990s, the former death strip became the site for emblematic construction projects and a new centre of power. Steyerl’s incisive essay reveals a whole nexus of political forces based on exclusion and suppression.
The Maji-Maji Readings
Germany 2006
by Ricardo Bacallao
with Philippa Ébené, Grada Kilomba
A theatre reading about the Maji Maji uprising in the former German East Africa reveals that colonial, racist patterns of thought still dominate in Germany today. Philippa Ébené, Grada Kilomba and others linked to the production all get to have their say.
Merry Christmas Deutschland oder Vorlesung zur Geschichtstheorie II
West Germany 1985
by Raoul Peck
Raoul Peck’s graduation film at the DFFB dips into the prevailing mood in Germany in 1984 and the conception of democracy of the time. Images of the grey city, people in a festive mood and clips from West German television exert an atmospheric pull.
Normalität 1–10 (Normality 1–X)
Austria / Germany 1999-2001
by Hito Steyerl
At the turn of the century, neo-Nazi marches, racist attacks and the defiling of Jewish graves formed part of everyday life in Germany and Austria. Steyerl’s series of essayistic shorts give an account of violence mistaken for normality.
Der schöne Tag (A Fine Day)
Germany 2001 (Forum 2001)
by Thomas Arslan
with Serpil Turhan, Bilge Bingül, Florian Stetter
A long summer’s day in Berlin: a young actress still in training wanders through the city. She ends things with her boyfriend, meets another man, thinks about love. With typical restraint, Arslan crafts a narrative of purpose and exploration.
This Makes Me Want to Predict the Past
Germany / Austria 2019
by Cana Bilir-Meier
with Sosuna Yıldız, Aleyna Osmanoğlu, Berfin Ünsal
A visit to a mall, old photos, a bomb scare, an attack: lines of connection and ruptures between everyday life as a migrant in past and present alike, between youthful exuberance and ongoing racist violence in Germany.
Additional Films
Beirut Al Lika (Beirut the Encounter)
Lebanon / Tunisia / Belgium 1981
by Borhane Alaouié
with Haytham Al Amine, Nadine Acoury
In the midst of the civil war, a Shiite man from West Beirut and a Christian woman from the east of the city try to see each other one last time before she emigrates to the US. Newly restored, a film that has lost nothing of its topicality.
Komm mit mir in das Cinema – Die Gregors (Come With Me to the Cinema – The Gregors)
Germany 2022
by Alice Agneskirchner
with Erika Gregor, Ulrich Gregor
From the 1950s onwards, Erika and Ulrich Gregor brought countless film historical milestones to Berlin and shaped cinema discourse in post-war Germany. A look at the life and work of the couple without whom Arsenal and the Forum wouldn’t exist.
West Indies ou les nègres marrons de la Liberté (West Indies)
France / Algeria / Mauretania 1979
by Med Hondo
with Robert Liensol, Hélène Vincent, Toto Bissainthe, Cyril Aventurin, Theo Légetimus
This stirring 1979 musical encompasses 400 years of French occupation of the West Indies: a theatre stage becomes a slave ship where Africa, Europe and the Caribbean interlock. Med Hondo’s classic now returns to the big screen in a new restoration.
Forum Expanded: Closer to the Ground
Films
Devil’s Peak
USA
by Simon Liu
International premiere
Diva
Switzerland
by Nicolas Cilins
World premiere
Fire Emergencies
USA
by Kevin Jerome Everson
World premiere
Gazing… Unseeing
Netherlands / Egypt
by Mohamed Abdelkarim
World premiere
Home When You Return
USA
by Carl Elsaesser
International premiere
If from Every Tongue It Drips
Canada / United Kingdom / Sri Lanka
by Sharlene Bamboat
European premiere
If Revolution Is a Sickness
USA / Poland
by Diane Severin Nguyen
World premiere
Instant Life
Germany
by Anja Dornieden, Juan David González Monroy, Andrew Kim
World premiere
Jail Bird in a Peacock Chair
Germany / USA
by James Gregory Atkinson
European premiere
Kumbuka
USA / Netherlands / Democratic Republic of Congo
by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
Majmouan (Subtotals)
Iran / Polen
by Mohammadreza Farzad
World premiere
Moune Ô
Belgium
by Maxime Jean-Baptiste
World premiere
Mun koti (My Home)
Finland
by Azar Saiyar
World premiere
MU/T/T/ER
United Kingdom
by Esther Kondo Heller
O dente do dragão (Dragon Tooth)
Brazil
by Rafael Castanheira Parrode
World premiere
One Big Bag
USA / United Kingdom
by Every Ocean Hughes
World premiere
Parasite Family
Thailand
by Prapat Jiwarangsan
World premiere
Sab changa si (All Was Good)
India
by Teresa A Braggs
World premiere
Sol in the Dark
France
by Mawena Yehouessi
World premiere
Sonne Unter Tage (Sun Under Ground)
Germany
by Mareike Bernien, Alex Gerbaulet
World premiere
Surface Rites
Canada
by Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour, Ryan Ferko
World premiere
vs
Austria
by Lydia Nsiah
World premiere
Yarokamena
Colombia / Portugal
by Andrés Jurado
World premiere
Screening and performance at Zeiss-Großplanetarium
White Sands Crystal Foxes
Germany
by Liz Rosenfeld
World premiere
Presented in conjunction with the peformance The Shimmer.
Group exhibition at Betonhalle silent green Kulturquartier
09.02. – 13.03.2022
All of Your Stars Are but Dust on My Shoes
Lebanon
by Haig Aivazian
International premiere
Black Beauty: For a Shamanic Cinema
United Kingdom / Belgium / Spain
by Grace Ndiritu
Jole Dobe Na (Those Who Do Not Drown)
India / USA / Japan / Sweden
by Naeem Mohaiemen
Das Kino Projekt
Germany
by Siska
World premiere
The Lighting
Germany
by Musquiqui Chihying
European premiere
Medicine and Magic
Canada
by Thirza Cuthand
European premiere
Onder het witte masker: de film die Haesaerts had kunnen maken (Under the White Mask: The Film That Haesaerts Could Have Made)
Belgium
by Matthias De Groof
Se hace camino al andar (The Path Is Made by Walking)
Brazil
by Paula Gaitán
European premiere
Shadowboxing
Canada
by Abdi Osman
International premiere
The Song of the Shirt
Germany
by Kerstin Schroedinger
World premiere
Voices and Shells
Germany
by Maya Schweizer
The Wake
Haiti / France / United Kingdom
by The Living and the Dead Ensemble
The Zama Zama Project
USA / South Africa / Canada
by Rosalind Morris
World premiere
Exhibition at Marshall McLuhan Salon of the Embassy of Canada
10.02. – 20.02.2022
VCR’s Choice
Canada
by Charlton Diaz
European premiere
Exhibition at SAVVY Contemporary
09.02. – 06.03.2022
The Wind in Your Body Is Only Visiting, Your Breath Will Soon Be Thunder
India / Germany
by Pallavi Paul
World premiere
Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2022: An Echo of the Past
Echo
Germany
by Mareike Wegener
with Valery Tscheplanowa, Ursula Werner, Andreas Döhler, Felix Römer, Oskar Keymer, Marina Galic
Perspektive Talent: Sabine Panossian (Camera)
World premiere
The police officer Saskia Harder, traumatised by a bomb attack in Afghanistan, has barely initiated the investigation into the identity of a bog body in provincial Brandenburg when a blind bomb from the Second World War has to be defused in the village.
Gewalten (Forces)
Germany
by Constantin Hatz
with Malte Oskar Frank, Robert Kuchenbuch, Eric Cordes, Paul Wollin, Ben Felipe, Trixi Strobel
Perspektive Talent: Rafael Starman (Camera)
World premiere
The life of the meek Daniels, who cares for his terminally ill father and is exploited by his aggressive brother, is characterised by cold feelings and violence. When he meets the outsider Marcel, however, he believes he has found a friend.
Ladies Only
Germany / India
by Rebana Liz John
Documentary form
Europaean premiere
Perspektive Talent: Rebana Liz John (Documentary filmmaking)
In the women’s compartments of local trains in Mumbai, women report what makes them angry. Their answers come together to form a fascinating tapestry which not only composes a portrait of Indian society, but also points far beyond it.
Rondo
Germany
by Katharina Rivilis
with Luise Wolfram, Paul Boche, Lucas Englander
World premiere
A weekend on the Baltic Sea with her new boyfriend Lars becomes déjà-vu for Zoé, throwing her back into another time, to a weekend which she already spent in this place – with another man whom she loved very much.
Schweigend steht der Wald (The Silent Forest)
by Saralisa Volm
with Henriette Confurius, Robert Stadlober, Noah Saavedra, August Zirner, Johanna Bittenbinder
Perspektive Talent: Daniel Kundrat (Editing)
World premiere
After a murder in the Upper Palatine forest, trainee forester Anja sees parallels to the unsolved death of her father 20 years previously. Her investigations touch on a dark secret.
Sorry Genosse (Sorry Comrade)
Germany
by Vera Brückner
Documentary form
Perspektive Talent: Fabian Halbig (Production)
World premiere
In order to be with his great love Hedi, Karl-Heinz wants to move to the GDR. However, the pressure of the Stasi, who want to instrumentalise him, forces the couple to a ludicrous escape via Romania, in which everything that can go wrong does go wrong.
Wir könnten genauso gut tot sein (We Might As Well Be Dead)
Germany / Romania
by Natalia Sinelnikova
with Ioana Iacob, Pola Geiger, Jörg Schüttauf, Şiir Eloğlu, Moritz Jahn, Susanne Wuest
Opening film
Perspektive Talent: Elisabeth Kozerski (Production design)
World premiere
The skyscraper on the edge of the forest is known for its carefully selected house community. When a dog disappears, the security officer Anna has to fight the irrational fear of the residents. The utopia with a view of the forest is slowly unravelling.
Guest of Perspektive Deutsches Kino: Prize Donor DEFA-Stiftung
Fallada – letztes Kapitel (Fallada – The Last Chapter)
GDR 1988
by Roland Gräf
with Jörg Gudzuhn, Jutta Wachowiak, Katrin Sass, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrike Krumbiegel, Marga Legal
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